Allison Staker

Everyone has them.  An apparent sudden need for a homemade chocolate chip cookie, bowl of ice cream with caramel sauce, or a big slice of blueberry pie.  Cravings - especially the ones for something sweet - can be surprisingly strong - especially if you are tired, hungry, stressed or emotionally worn down.   A sweet taste is a quick hit to the brain's pleasure center, and sugar physically can become a real addiction - replacing balance in the body with a quick short term solution that has long term undesirable effects. 

The limbic system in our brain is responsible for metabolic signals, hunger, thirst, sleep cycles, and also emotion, motivation, and memories.  Studies of addiction and brain scans have shown the origin of addictive cravings to come from this part of the brain.  We have powerful emotions around survival - and physical and emotional stress can cause confusion among these signals.  If you are stressed, many times the nearest and quickest 'survival' behavior is to eat.  The problem is that you weren't really hungry - that wasn't the correct need to fill - it gave a temporary relief from stress, but the real need remains unaddressed - and will indefinitely subconsciously be communicating a state of lack to the body and brain until that need is addressed - causing an individual to continue to try to alleviate that need with the short term solution - for most of us that is food or sugar. 

There are many ways to short-circuit a craving, and I will be writing about more of these methods in future blogs, but I want to start with the beginning - mindfulness.  Mindfulness is an objective awareness of the body and the emotions - awareness of what is really going on at any given moment.  Awareness enables us to bring an automatic reaction up to the level of conscious choice.  Reaching for something sweet when one is stressed or tired is an automatic reaction - governed by an emotional need - and our conscious brain has very little to do with it.   Some steps to cultivate mindfulness or awareness with your food:

1.  Notice when you reach for food or sweets.  Many people do not even notice when or where they eat because they do it so automatically.

2.  When a craving hits, ask yourself if you are truly hungry - has it been 4 or 5 hours since your last meal? 

3.  If you are not truly hungry, check in with yourself about your emotional state - what are you really feeling? Are you bored?  stressed?  angry?  Identify what it is you are really feeling. 

4.  If you are truly hungry, ask yourself if what you are reaching for to eat is a nutritional good choice - will it increase the health and vitality of your body?  Is there a better choice? 

5.  If you are not really hungry, and have identified what you are really feeling - take some time to think about how you might fill that need in a more permanent complete way. 

Practicing awareness with your food by asking yourself these questions before you automatically reach for it is sometimes all that is needed to reduce or eliminate cravings.  Sometimes it is not enough, there are emotional programs running deep enough that more help is needed - and I will address some of these techniques in the future - but these questions can begin the process.  Awareness is always the beginning of change.  :-)